Wimachtendienks Tribe - An announcement was made in the September, 1915 issue of Scouting Magazine about the formation of an honor organization that was created at Treasure Island in the Philadelphia Council that summer. It talked about different honor societies that had been organizing around the country in the larger councils. "Wimachtendienks Tribe" was the original name given to what is now known as the Order of the Arrow and it appears this was the original announcement of it's existence. It was later known as the WWW. There were apparently other groups already organized in other large councils as this is mentioned in the article. The following is quoted word for word from the report: "Wimachtendienks is the name of an old Delaware Indian Tribe that formerly lived in that section. The purpose of establishing this organization was threefold. In the first place, it was designed to emphasize the underlying principles of the Boy Scout movement - cheerfulness and service; secondly to take advantage of the historic environment, and lastly, to form a bond of honor between the various troops. As a nucleus for the organization, each of the forty-five troops which were represented in the camp was permitted to select one scout to become a member of the tribe. These forty-five selected boys conducted a ceremonial once a week at which other scouts were initiated, as a result of their having performed special tests. In each case, the recommendation for membership in the tribe was made by the members of the troop to which the candidate belonged. The initiation was public but the symbolization was not made known to any except those who took part... As a mark of special honor, the tribe selected one scout who was given the name Nuwingi. This scout was selected by a vote of all the troops in the camp and the selection was ratified by the scoutmasters. It has been established that E. Urner Goodman was the "scout" who given the Indian name "Nuwingi" as the first vigil inductee at the end of camp. Nuwingi means "The Willing". All the meetings of the "Wimachtendienks Tribe" were conducted by E. Urner Goodman, the Field Secretary of the Philadelphia Local Council." Apparently E. Urner Goodman sent in an account of the honor camper group that had been initiated just a few months earlier. He referred to it as "Wimachtendienks Tribe" in his letter to Scouting Magazine.
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